I've been arguing the case for a mid-section for a long while now. Somewhere for the ephemeral but important stuff. The launch of a new CD, gig lists, meeting up with other 'catters when on holiday or at festivals. Radio or television programmes about to be broadcast. A place for the "Blatant Self-Publication" threads (Where are Punch the Horse and Sorcha Dorcha performing these days?). Possibly the place for births, deaths and funerals.
Much of the information in such threads is directly relevant for a very short time frame. Notification of a concert might hit the forum a month in advance or just the day before, when a member sees the local newspaper. Once the gig has been discussed, the thread becomes mostly irrelevant.
A radio show guest may not be listed until the programme is actually underway - we often get "Listen NOW" threads when someone folkie appears unexpectedly on (UK) BBC radio. Even with short term online archives - the "listen again", where available, is only there for a few more days. Perhaps such threads should be marked "Read Only" after a specified delay appropriate to the type of event.

On important thing would be that such threads ARE NOT BS...
It ought to be permissible for a non-member to start an information thread, they may be telling us something we would be interested in.

All in all, as highlighted by katlaughing and McGrath, a "people and events" section would serve two useful functions. Firstly, it would keep similar threads together in one place, and as such make it easy to highlight information which might be only relevant for a few days. Secondly, it would stop such threads cluttering up the top section, and make it easier to scan through and answer the requests for lyrics, tunes and serious discussions about instruments or computer problems.

Whenever I have suggested the idea in the past, the response has tended to be "we get by okay without a third section", but personally, I think that it would enhance the forum.
Quack!
Geoff.